Banshee: Hello everyone. I know that it's been a REALLY long time since I've updated, but life has been a little hectic as of late. I managed to finish this one, so I decided to post it.
Disclaimer: I only own my OC and the crazy plot.
Chapter Four: Sending Christmas Cards
The fourth thing at Christmas that's such a pain to me
Exhausted man: Sending Christmas cards
Hangovers
Rigging up the lights
And finding a Christmas tree
…
…
Axel whistled absentmindedly as he took a leisurely walk through the halls of the Castle That Never Was. Sure, he could just teleport, but he had no set destination in mind and he figured that he had a good, strong pair of legs and that he should use them once in a while. He blindly walked around the castle for a couple hours before he decided he was tired and felt like taking a nap. Since he was close enough to the bedrooms and didn't need to use a portal, he determined he was lazy enough to keep walking. As he reached his own room, he noticed that Nikki's door - the one at the very end, next to Roxas' and labeled 'XIV' - was wide open. This was odd, he thought, for Nikki never left her bedroom door open; for obvious reasons (being surrounded by men was enough of a reason to keep her door shut and locked at all times… not that it mattered since they could all teleport).
Was she inside, too absorbed in what she's doing to notice her door was open? Or was she in a hurry to get something done and left it open accidentally? The only way to know for sure was to have a look.
Taking advantage of his stealth, he crept over to her door without being heard (it wasn't like anyone was around to hear him anyway). His back against the wall by the door, he listened for any noise and could make out frantic scribbling. Taking a cautious peek inside, and watching out for any books that could be flung at him and a string of curses any moment, Axel took a quick survey of the room. His expression changed from cautious, and possibly devious, to confused when his gaze landed on the corner of the room.
There was Nikki, hunched over her desk and surrounded by festive Christmas cards and colored envelopes. She showed no signs of knowing he was there, focusing completely on the card she was writing on; which was odd because he swore up and down that she had an Axel-detecting radar implanted in her skull since she always seemed to know where he was - especially when it came to her room.
His curiosity over the Christmas cards got the best of him, and he asked, "Nikki, what are you doing?"
At first it didn't seem like she heard him, but when he opened his mouth to ask her again she cut him off.
"Making out some Christmas cards for some friends." Nikki said without looking at him, finishing up whatever she was writing on the card. He scoffed when she said 'some,' for he knew it was much more than that just by looking at the pile of cards on her desk. It was huge, and covered nearly the whole surface. When she was done, she put the pen down and turned to face him. "Want to help?"
Axel looked between Nikki and the massive pile of cards on the desk, and gave her a look that clearly said "If you think I'm going to sit here and write stupid Christmas cards all day, you're crazy."
"I've already written them all out." She told him after seeing his expression. "I just need help putting them in envelopes so I can deliver them."
Apparently this idea was better because Axel just shrugged his shoulders and muttered "Okay," sitting down next to her. The cards had some familiar names; Cloud, Leon, Yuffie, Tifa, Cid, and everyone else on the Restoration Committee in Radiant Garden; their fellow Organization members and Naminé; Sora, Riku, Kairi, and the other kids from Destiny Island; Donald, Goofy, King Mickey, Queen Minnie, Daisy, and Chip and Dale in Disney Castle; Hayner, Pence and Olette in Twilight Town; Pooh, Piglet and the rest of the gang in the Hundred Acre Wood; Belle, the Beast, and the enchanted servants; her childhood friends, Sandy, Harriet, Cassandra and Maggie; her parents, her uncle, her grandparents on both sides, her gay cousin along with his boyfriend, and the one aunt that she actually liked; Ariel, Sebastian, Flounder and King Triton in Atlantica; Jack Skellington and Sally in Halloween Town; there was even one for Yen Sid!
As he progressed through the mountain of cards, he found some names popping up that he had no idea who the hell these people were; Edward and Alphonse Elric, Winry and Pinako Rockbell, Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, some guy named Armstrong, Hughes (along with his apparent wife and daughter), Fuery, Breda, Falman and Havoc, and for some reason there was a card addressed to 'Barry the Chopper'; some guy called 'Shizu-nii,' Simon, Shinra, and Celty; he recognized Naruto, Gaara, Sakura, Kakashi and the rest of the ninja, and some cards were also addressed to the members of the Akatsuki.
"An awful lot of men here…" Axel pointed out in a low and agitated tone.
"Shut it." Nikki snapped.
The redhead took a bundle of envelopes and flipped through them, getting more and more confused with every unfamiliar name he saw. "When did you meet all these people anyway?" He asked.
"Every now and then I fall through a rogue portal and end up in some strange world that we've never visited before." Nikki summed it up with one sentence. "Come to think of it, it actually happens quite a lot.. It's weird."
"Oh yeah." Axel said with an "Ah-ha!" tone, thinking about the last time that happened; which resulted in a wild goose chase involving ninjas, and talk of tailed beasts and S-ranked (whatever that means) criminals with freaky special abilities. "That is kinda weird.. Maybe we should have Vexen look into that."
Nikki was about to say something in response to that, but the sudden image of Vexen running portal experiments with that maniacal mad scientist grin on his face, as well as his creepy mad scientist cackle, made whatever words she was about to say die an agonizing death. As a result, the conversation died right then and there, and they just went back to sealing envelopes.
"There." Nikki declared after a few minutes, slapping the last finished card on the pile. "All done. Now all that's left is the delivery."
She clapped her hands and chimed, "Momo~!" and her faithful half-Heartless, half-Nobody pet appeared at her side, ready to receive orders.
"Here you go, Momo." Nikki said sweetly, handing him a giant bag that she had stuffed with all the finished cards. "Deliver these Christmas cards for Mommy please~? I'll have a nice, big plate of sugar cookies waiting for you when you get back~."
The experiment's antennae perked up at "sugar cookes," much like a dog's ears when you say the word "biscuit," and he jumped up and down excitedly. He took the massive bag of greeting cards without any objections and disappeared in a flash of black and purple.
"Oh! Before I forget..." Nikki took one last card out of the desk and held it out to Axel. "I have a card for you too."
Axel arched an eyebrow. "A card? For me?" He took the card and opened it, reading the sweet message and even stealing a glance at the picture of a cute little reindeer in a sweater. "That is the cheesiest thing I've ever seen. You could pour this on nachos, that's how cheesy it is."
He looked at the card like it was his worst enemy, and burned it without a second thought. However, the image of the reindeer wearing a Christmas tree sweater was burned into his brain, and no amount of card-burning could erase that.
On top of that, he had a sudden craving for nachos...
"It's a Christmas card. They're supposed to be cheesy." Nikki pointed out, not caring that he had just set the card on fire. She was more concerned with the fact that she was suddenly thinking about nachos. Hearing her stomach make a little growl, she added, grumbling, "And thanks a lot, now I want nachos."
"I want nachos too." Axel said.
...
...
...
"You wanna get some nachos?"
...
...
...
...
"Yeah."
...
...